Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Ironsword_Box.jpg Yes, that is Fabio on the cover of the box and game cartridge. Many people may be thinking right now, why would I play a game that has a half naked Italian man in it? Even though Fabio doesn't make an appearance in the game, he definitely makes the game look more noticeable. Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II was developed by Rare and released by Acclaim in 1989 for the Nintendo. The game is basically a sequel to Wizards and Warriors. The main characters remain the same except for you not rescuing princesses. You are once again Kuros, the mightiest warrior known to all. Malkil, the evil wizard was vanquished but has managed to come back in the form of the four elementals (bosses). The game is split up into 5 levels; 1 for each elemental and 1 for the final ascent to fight the four elementals at once. Each of the levels is split into 2 parts. The first part is to find a golden item for one of the animal kings who are guarding the entrance to the next area. To get these items requires either magic or doing something specific. Once you give the animal king the item, you then journey to the next area which has the elemental boss. Normal attacks will not work so you have to find a chest that contains a special magic spell. This will enable you to defeat the boss and get a piece of a weapon which is called the Ironsword. This is apparently a very special weapon and you need all four pieces to kill the final bosses. Throughout the game, you will acquire keys and gems. The keys are needed to open chests to get important items, weapons, armor, and treasure. The gems are used to buy stuff from the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is worthless almost 90% of the time because he does not sell anything useful. Two of the items are always keys and food which come at a set price which mainly increases as you advance. The third item is either a spell or a good item. Most of the time, the third item is outrageously priced and is also fairly worthless. An extra life for 5000 gold is probably the only useful item. You are also able to play a money making game with the shopkeeper. There are 4 cups and you have to guess which cup the skull will fall into. The odds are stacked against you and the payoff is not even worth it. I find this pachinko style game to be a complete waste of time. There are numerous hidden areas scattered throughout the game which is fairly neat as they contain keys, gems, and maybe even extra lives. This is essentially a platform game which varies from the first Wizards and Warriors which was more maze oriented. I also feel like the story was not detailed enough to be considered a direct sequel. There is no continuation of the plot from the first game and there is hardly a plot in this game to keep ones attention. The game is fairly hard to complete if you are not good at this kind of game. Even if you are an experienced platform gamer, you will still have a difficult time. When you start out the game, there are enemies that can take half of your health bar in one hit. Some can even kill you in one hit if you get hit a certain way or aren't wielding a shield or helmet. Some of the enemies require specific ways of killing them. For the bosses, there is no strategy required as they are ridiculously easy to defeat if you know the correct way to kill them. The extra lives are few but enough can be reached without much effort. One weird thing about this game is that once you reach the Earth area (Level 4), you lose all of your continues. Before this, you have 2 continues and you would just lose your score and start off with 3 lives again. So if you want the best possible score, you have to play the first 3 levels without dying many times and getting all of the extra lives. The final bosses are also very difficult and you will need at least 2 lives to kill them all. The controls are very good which is mandatory for a platforming game. The A Button jumps. The B Button attacks. Start pauses and Select picks a spell to use and to see your password if you want to continue your game. The only problem with the game is that the controls can get a little slippery which can be a problem at times. Since there are no death pits, this won't be detrimental to the gameplay. The graphics are very good for a game in 1989. Everything is easy to distinguish and all of the platforms are easily indentifiable. The enemies are well detailed and able to be seen. The scenery and levels are decent but leave something to be desired. Many of the levels are rock based which can get a little dull after a while. 80% of the levels are made of the same rock but different colors. The drab appearance can make the game lose some of its fun factor as it does not suck in the gamer. The music is great and fits the game well. The only complaint is that none of the tunes are memorable except for one. The title song is awesome and the only song I can even recall from the game. The music does so its job of keeping the gamer involved in the game. The sound is below average as there really isn't that many sounds in the game. Many of the sounds are for when you get it or pick up something. I have also noticed that sometimes the sound will glitch and sound horrible for a few seconds. This can become irritating at times and can even ruin the atmosphere. Overall, this game is a nice addition to the Wizards and Warriors collection but there are a few things that can affect what people think about the game. Gameplay (30%) 8/10 *-1 for worthless shop items *-1 for stupid pachinko game Controls (20%) 8/10 *-2 for slippery controls Graphics (15%) 8/10 *-2 for drab levels Difficulty (10%) 6/10 *-2 for loss of continues at 4th level *-2 for cheap 1 hit ko's Sound (10%) 4/10 *-3 for few sounds *-3 for sound glitches Music (10%) 8/10 *-2 for lack of memorable tunes Originality (5%) 6/10 *-2 for lack of plot *-2 for lack of continuation of first game's plot Personal Tilt 8/10 Overall 73/100 ='B'= Developer: Rare Publisher: Acclaim Year Released: 1989 Beaten: Yes Score: 817997